Echoes
by Punjabchild
Summary: Christmas Phic for Phantom Resurrected: Before the story Erik and Desiree have a short holiday encounter in a very odd place.


Echoes  
  
Pair of fingers shifted through the rack of CD's while a pair of large gray eyes examining the different covers. They settled on one, flipped it over to read the list of tracks Overture, 2. Audition 3. Young and Healthy. They selected another one and did the same: 1. Prologue 2. Overture 3. Think of Me.  
"Hey kid!" a horse yet angry voice yelled. "This ain't a library." Desiree turned from her reading to glance at the shopkeeper. The annoyed man wearing an "I love acting" tee-shirt glared at her through black framed glasses. Remnants of a Krispy Kreme donut fell from his mouth as he spoke.  
"I said this ain't a library. Either buy something or get out. You'll scare the customer's away." he grumbled. Desiree glanced around the small shop, there were no other customers. The guy just wanted her gone because she thought she would steal something. She should, just to make him mad. Instead she flashed him a big grin.  
"Just looking for Christmas presents." she said. The usually cashier of The Theater Shop never really minded her looking around in the store, but she didn't feel with putting up with this guy todya. Dessy placed down the copies of the "42nd Street" and "Phantom of the Opera" soundtracks and headed to the door. She slowly made her way to the door, running her fingers along the line of long gold key chains made to resemble Broadway tickets, one of her favorite things in the store, causing them to tinkle like a wind chime. She placed her hands on the glass door feeling the cold wind and glanced back on the rows of tee-shirts of masks, roses and bright letters before stepping outside.  
Every where she went, the 14 year-old Desiree was always asked to leave the store by somebody. Once when she went to Macy's, the security guard had followed her around so much that she could spot other kids shoplifting and getting away, while the guard kept focusing on her. Bits of snow started to fall. Even though it was near Christmas, Dessy was walking around without a coat. She had lived through New York winters so often she felt all she needed was her knit Yankee cap to keep her warm.  
She saw a Pepsi can and kicked it into the street. How could she shoplift anything, she didn't even have a coat to keep it in. "Besides." she muttered, seeing her breath in front of her. "Forty bucks for a CD, that's so stupid." she held her tongue from saying some of the fouler words she had heard at school. She knew what would happen if she slipped up and said one of those words at home.  
Dessy didn't even have enough money to buy a hotdog at a newsstand, and she was considering using her subway fare to get some gum or candy. She could walk home instead. She made her way down 44th street and looked up to see another one of her favorite sights. The glowing marquee of a Broadway Theater, in particularly the Majestic Theater.  
"The Majestic Theater now playing Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera. Showing 6 nights a week. Call for ticket information." Dessy read the sign she had all but memorized. She walked under the sign to avoid the snow, looking at the ticket booth and the pictures aligning the wall. While she was busy admiring them, she heard the sound of tires at the curb and turned to see what was going on. A middle aged woman dressed in a wine colored velvet dress who was trying to pay the cab driver and at the same time control her screaming child. The little girls eyes were red from crying and that ran over her small dressed that matched the woman. She took the girl by the hand and started to drag her to the door. She glanced up the see Dessy.  
"Excuse me; do you know if the show has started?"  
Dessy knew the matinees started at 2:00 and her watch said 2:07. Dessy rolled her shoulders. "It's past two so it might have."  
The women brushed her hair away from her face but the wind blew it right back. "Well thank you." she turned to the little girl who was obviously her daughter. "Come on sweetie we are going to be late for the show."  
The little girl struggled and cried even louder. "I don't wanna go to no stupid show!" she wailed  
The mother struggled. "Well it's too late for late because were going now." She finally managed to drag the girl through the door and Dessy watched them disappear through the tinted glass.  
She would have given anything to be in that girl's place. She had lived in New York all her life and had never gotten a chance to see a Broadway play. Her foster parents had never taken her and Christine claimed she was too busy to take her to one, but she had plenty of time to go shopping.  
Dessy glanced around at the ticket booth and the pictures and decided she had been deprived enough. She was going to see this show, today. And she knew a way where money was no obstacle. She made her way down the alley by the stage door. She had heard stories of kids in her school in the gangs who would get in the theaters to steal sound equipment to sell on the back market. But that not what she had in mind. She cautiously made her way through the stage door, trying to be quite as possible. Even though the music was so loud she couldn't imagine anyone hearing her. A man was to busy looking through the hallway to notice her as she crept among the shadows to a ladder in one corner of the stage. She rested on a ladder rung and watched the stage, catching only partial glimpses of the actors, but it was enough. She saw dancers parading around in colorful costumes to music while the audience laughed at the dialogue. From her vantage point she could see the other actors waiting to go on stage. This was a dream come true.  
Think of me Think of me fondly  
When we've said goodbye  
Think of me ever so often  
Please promise me you'll try Dessy sighed. "So that's what the song sounds like." she whispered. Then a stiff hand gripped down on her shoulders. She turned to look up at a stagehand, who wore a cap that covered his eyes. "Are you supposed to be here kid?" he asked in a gruff voice.  
"Uh-sorry. I was supposed to get some water for the actors, but I started watching the show and got sidetrack." Dessy lied.  
He didn't seem to believe her. "That may be." he reached to press and button on his head set. "Hey security, I think I have a problem here." But before he could turn to grab her again, Dessy bolted from her hiding place and back out the door.  
  
Erik sat in one of the private boxes of the Majestic, tapping his playbill on his knee as the musical started to come to an end. It hadn't been his choice to come here, but on the backers he was involved with had brought all the partners to the show. The curtain closed and the applause started to deafen in his ears.  
"Well Mr. Foster wasn't that great?" one of his collages asked.  
Erik stood to his feet with everyone else to congratulate the actors. Yes the singing was very good, and the music worthy of become a certain Broadway staple. But Erik grappled with the story. True every artist had the right to the interpretation of the Phantom of the Opera, but in Erik's opinion, they hadn't gotten his story right yet.  
Erik walked outside, happy to be out of the stuffy auditorium and the other backers who didn't know a thing about real theater and would be amused if flat-keyed children performed that musical on a cardboard stage. He pulled a scarf over his face and fingered the cell phone in his pocket. Soon he would have his Don Juan finished and then New York would see the real meaning to theater, opera and music in their purest forms.  
"Can I call you a cab, sir?" a voice asked.  
Erik turned to see a girl, about 13 or 14 staring at him. She was dressed in only a shirt, jeans and winter hat. The snow fell into her long brown hair which flapped in the wind. Her eyes looked hopeful. Hopeful for a tip, Erik reasoned.  
"No it's all right. My driver should be coming soon."  
"Oh okay, well I hope you enjoyed the show sir." She turned and started to walk away, but Erik could hear her whispering "I wish I could have." Erik could see his black Lexus waiting at the light and he fished in his pocket, pulling out his ticket stub and the key chain that had been given as gift to everyone.  
"Hey kid." he called. He watched her turn around slowly and looked at him curiously. He took the ticket and the key chain and tossed it to her. She reached out and caught them before they fell in the snow. "You can keep it."  
She examined them and glanced up at him with a smile. "Thanks sir. Hey have a Merry Christmas okay!" she yelled back.  
Erik watched as she walked off into the snow still waving back at him. The car pulled to the curb but Erik kept his gaze focused on the girl.  
"You too, kid" he said.  
  
A/N: Well that spasm is over. I'm not trying to say the ALW musical sucks at all, so just want to clear that up. This is just a same present for all my reviewers and readers of Phantom Resurrected. I have been having some writer block with the next chapter so I hope this phic will make up for the delay some how. Chapter 14 should be up in the next week or so and I hope to finish it by the end of the year so stay tune and Happy Holidays everybody! 


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